A Message from The Vitrolite Specialist

November, 2013

Greetings Vitrolite Lovers!

This has been a big year for Vitrolite! Our biggest contract for 2013 is the upcoming restoration of the bathrooms at the Hoover Dam in Nevada. We will take 700 s.f. of material in black, jade, white and cream to restore the bathroom at the top of the Dam, the Exhibition Hall bathrooms, and several rooms within the Dam itself. You may be surprised to hear that the Dam has Vitrolite, but, in fact, the glass was quite commonly used in federal projects during the Great Depression including some post offices, the Federal Triangle buildings in Washington, D.C., as well as many other state and federal buildings across the country. The West VIrginia State Capital building, for example, has 33 Vitrolite bathrooms. Repairing and restoring these original installations has been a great source of on-going work for our company.

We have also had a banner year in terms of collecting material. We have just removed black Vitrolite from 11 storefronts in downtown St. Louis. We continue to hear about Vitrolite from people throughout the country who don't want to see this beautiful product go into dumpsters and landfills. So, thank you! While we have an extensive collection of Vitrolite, we are always interested in hearing about people and projects that have glass available for collection or sale.

Our major project for 2012 was the restoration of the beautiful Grand Theatre in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was the largest Vitrolite installation that has been done since 1949 and required 1,500 s.f. of material. I hope you will take a look at our photos of the finished product, of which we are quite proud. This summer, we restored a beautiful stroefront in Hastings, Nebraska and added a new Vitrolite storefront to the same building at a different elevation. We have sold Vitrolite to numerous companies this year who are using the glass for such things as scientific instrumentation, table tops and Art Deco clocks.

The uses for Vitrolite seem to be endless. Every day, someone contact us with a different use of this wonderful product which has some unique qualities. Though it has not been manufactured since the early 1950's, Vitrolite is beloved by people throughout the world who continue to spread the word about its worth in decorating and architecture, and who continue to view the material as a viable alternative to modern products. Again, we thank you!

Historic preservation is not done by one man alone. Let me introduce to you the other people who work for our little company. My apprentice of nine years is Hank Falkenberg. Hank has a background in contracting and a keen eye for finish carpentry, as well as a spotless safety record! Gary Vance has been working for us as the St. Louis Vitrolite subcontractor for 13 years. We have recently added warehouse worker Jay Lamb, bookkeeper Cheryl Akers and web master Marion Sudvarg. Geri Redden, my wife and life partner is long overdue for a place in this letter. She is the office manager, and the glue that keeps us all together.

Thanks for your continued interest in Vitrolite! We look forward to hearing from you with new projects and ideas!